That’s what Bethenny Frankel told me keeps her grounded in the often times crazy world of her life, especially when it comes to the Real Housewives of New York franchise. The well-known television celebrity and Skinnygirl CEO is no-nonsense, which she established pretty clearly when I spoke with her on Saturday while she was in Camden County, helping to open the gorgeous new Gloucester Premium Outlets, featuring stores ranging from Armani to Express. Read more »

“I’ve created expectations of myself based on what I imagine others expect of me. Noah was the poster child for black gay hopeless romantics and it just so happened that Darryl desperately wanted to be in love, too. When people were writing to me on social media, asking me how to find a boyfriend like Wade Robinson, I wanted to have answers for them. I wanted to offer them an example of how happy and fulfilled gay men could be if we stopped limiting our sexual encounters to shame-based trysts with strangers.”–Darryl Stephens, Required Reading: How To Get Your Life For Good

It has been a decade since the first episode of Noah’s Arc aired on Logo TV. Darryl Stephens exploded on the scene in 2005 as the lovable, sexy, hopeless romantic Noah. The show, which was the first of its kind, featured the lives of Black gay men living and loving in Los Angeles. Now, almost a decade later, Darryl opens up in his tell-all book that delves into love, loss, dating, sex and acting as an actual gay Black man living in Los Angeles.

Darryl is currently starring in a new film named, From Zero to I Love You, which is set in Philadelphia. Don’t be surprised if you spot Darryl downtown Philly filming this summer, boys! It was nice to catch up with Darryl for a one-on-one interview before the premier of his new show and right after the publication of his new book, Required Reading: How To Get Your Life For Good.

In your book, you talk a lot about dating, which I love! Does your profession as a gay Black actor add a layer of complexity that you wouldn’t necessarily see attached to other professions? For example, do guys have a hard time separating Noah from Darryl? That has been a big issue for me. For years after that show [Noah’s Arc] I was getting, you know, approached very aggressively by men who thought I was going to bend in the same way Noah would.

Like … literally? In a sense, yes! So, I have had to be sort of be on guard a lot. It’s more about negotiating what information people are approaching me with. Are talking to me because you saw me in a coffee shop or is this about something you are assuming based on a character? It does sort of keep you alert. It’s just an added layer due to being visible. Read more »

Last week, talk show queen Wendy Williams touched down in Philadelphia on the first stop of her “How You Doin, America” tour. While here, she co-hosted Good Day, took a tour of some of our sights, and sat down with me at the Fox 29 studios for a one-on-one interview.

We dished about the gay (and local!) roots of her most famous catch phrase and why she loves our fair city before finishing up with a rapid-fire Q&A that let her open up about everyone from Nicki Minaj to Drake to Kim and Kanye. See how Ms. Williams is doin’ in the video below.

I caught up with Season 6 RuPaul’s Drag Race queen Darienne Lake this weekend just before she went on stage to perform at Axis nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. I didn’t have a lot of time with her, so I went into the interview thinking I’d do a quick “5 Questions With Darienne Lake” kind of thing. But as Chatty Cathies are wont to do, we got sidetracked gabbing about everything from getting kicked out of her house for being gay as a teen to the real reason she got a little cranky in the Untucked Lounge that one time.

Australian dynamo Courtney Act (aka Shane Jenek) comes to Philly this week to perform with fellow Drag Race contestants in the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 Cast Party at Voyeur. I caught up with the living Barbie doll on the phone this week to see how life’s been treating her post-Drag Race, her thoughts on the “she-male” controversy, and why she’s so damn mean to Joslyn Fox.

Bensalem-bred singer-songwriter Christina Perri comes back home this weekend to perform songs from her new album, Head Or Heart, at the Electric Factory. Ticket gabbed with the “Human” songstress about everything from growing up in the Philly burbs, her 70 (!) tattoos, and how she can’t wait to get home to see her “big ass South Philly Italian family.”

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan has an all-too-appropriate hometown. The horror director, whose previous film Absentia, about a missing husband and an eerie tunnel, earned numerous awards on the festival circuit, spent a good deal of his seminal years in Salem, Mass., home of the infamous witch trials. His new film, Oculus, concerns an evil antique mirror and a pair of terrified siblings who have sworn to destroy it after it laid waste to their family. He recently met with Ticket, along with co-producers Trevor Macy and Jason Blum, to discuss the film, and the nature of things that go bump into the night.

Standup comedian Rob Delaney performed an electrifying, sold-out set at the Trocadero on Friday. Before he went on stage, though, I had a chance to chat with him in his dressing room, where I found him practically main-lining pizza and Coke. Delaney’s humor hinges on his enthusiasm for all things disgusting and weird, so I took a cue, shooting him some of the oddest questions I could think of. Here’s how things went down:

Miami-based DJ Tracy Young — most known for spinning Madonna and Guy Richie’s wedding party in 2000, and (sorry, Tracy) being the woman who briefly turned Kim Zolciak bisexual on Real Housewives of Atlanta — is coming to Philadelphia this weekend to spin the second go-round of Bruce Yelk’s new bi-weekly rager, bi at Sundown. In anticipation, I called her up one day to ask her 15 quick, fun questions. In the course of about 20 minutes I learned that she’s nuts for Miley Cyrus, not so nuts for Gaga, and, heads up, ladies, she’s single and open to mingling.